In my last post, I showed my first restoration project. It's a beautiful razor, and one I'm glad I found,but it is something of a mystery. I couldn't find any information on the maker, dates, anything, and I was getting really curious...so I started to really research this blade.
In my research about this razor, I first encountered a reference to a company called "Beardsley and Alvord" in the book "Annals of Winchester (and Winsted) CT." I could only find the index, however, not the text, so I knew nothing. THEN, on SMF, a very kind member posted a page from History of Waterbury and the Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut on Google books, where we find:
"It is necessary to turn back the pages of Winsted's history to the year 1852 in order to find the record of the first work accomplished by the concern which is now known as the Empire knife company. It will be found that two Englishmen, Messrs. Thompson and Gascoigne, came to Winsted in that year and opened a modest little shop for the purpose of making pocket cutlery...The founders did a fair trade, but lacked capital to devlop the industry, and in 1856 the business passed into the hands of Beardsley & Alvord."
So there was a cutlery business in the 1850's in Connecticut by the name of Beardsley and Alvord, which in later years changed its name to The Empire Knife company (in business until 1932)! So this razor was a product of the Beardsley & Alvord cutlery business in Winsted, CT...
Further digging turned up THIS information:
"James Richard Alvord was engaged in the dry goods business in his early years. In 1853 he took up the manufacture of pocket cutlery. This business was continued under the firm name, of Beardsley and Alvord, who bought the small pocket cutlery concern of Thompson and Gascoygn. In 1856 they built their factory at the Lake outlet, enlarged the business and placed it on a permanent basis, changing the name to the Empire Knife Co." (From A GENEALOGY OF THE DESCENDANTS OF ALEXANDER ALVORD AN EARLY SETTLER OF WINDSOR, CONN. AND NORTHAMPTON, MASS. V COMPILED BY
'SAMUEL MORGAN ALVORD 1908 A.D. ANDREW B, Pb int sb. Wbb st bb.N Y., p.288--found on the Library of Congress site.)
So Beardsley & Alvord changed their company name to The Empire Knife Co. in 1856, placing the date of my razor somewhere between 1853 and 1856...
Now THAT is some interesting stuff.
Now, further research shows that Connecticut had a lively iron and steel industry in the 19th century, so it is very possible that this razor, as English as it sounds, is a pure old American razor...which makes me inordinately happy!
1 comment:
Nice work on your essay about Empire Knife. I grew up down the street from there. Originally Empire operated near Highland Lake on what was known as the Lake Stream. Later, and more profitable, the concern built a brick factory on the Mad River. Both sites are gone and mostly forgotten.
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